The Spiritual Oversight of the Farmer
The farmer of righteousness, who was left behind yesterday through another administration, but is with us through the spiritual oversight. For the people were not Jewish, so that I might say they were a people like sheep without a shepherd; rather, it was an apostolic people, having an evangelical shepherd saying, 'Even if I am absent in body, yet in spirit I am with you,' (1 Cor 4:29) rejoicing and seeing the steadfastness of the faith toward Christ (1 Thess 3:10); to whom belongs the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages (Rom 16:27). Amen.
Greek
τὸν γεωργὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τὸν χθὲς ἀπολειφθέντα δι' ἑτέραν οἰκονομίαν, μεθ' ἡμῶν δὲ ὄντα διὰ τὴν πνευματικὴν ἐπιστασίαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν ὁ λαὸς Ἰουδαῖος, ἵνα εἴπω, ὅτι ἦν ὁ λαὸς ὡς πρόβατα μὴ ἔχοντα ποιμένα· ἀλλ' ἀποστολικὸς ἦν, ἔχων εὐαγγελικὸν ποιμένα λέγοντα, Εἰ καὶ τῷ σώματι ἄπειμι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πνεύματι σὺν ὑμῖν εἰμι, χαίρων καὶ βλέπων τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως· ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.